Sunday, November 20, 2016

Acerbis and UFO both made these in the mid 90's. Engine shrouds (or 'billboards' as they were called) did wonders for.... not much really. I can find a few old ads for them but were rarely used professionally. Here's a set on Ebay !ebay link

Here's a green set of UFO's that went for fifty bucks on VitalMX

I think i prefer the previous year's cleaner lines mysself... and besides, I don't think those shrouds will fit my Combat Wombat.

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

In 1990 Team Jean Stalaven decided to choose light weight over
power for their entry into the Dakar. The choice fell on the single-cylinder
engine Husqvarna 510, bored out to 570 cc.

The shell, designed by Michel Assis, However was revolutionary - It
was made up of two parts welded together in order to stiffen the whole
structure keeping it extremely slim and racy, unusual aesthetics against the
mastodons of the era. Result of the whole operation, an engine with around
sixty horses for 130 kg dry weight, and 185 kg fully loaded: against the 250 kg
of twins. A power-to-weight ratio definitely interesting on paper.
Unfortunately none of the three riders finished the race - Michel Merel,
Laurent Charbonnel and Luc Pagnon all DNF'd.